Thursday, 26 December 2013

travelling a trail of stars

When the new year comes around, I can't help but think of the possibilities: the places I could go and the things I could see. So I thought this was a timely opportunity to share a page about planning to travel. One evening, the boyfriend and I settled down in the foyer of the National Theatre to steal their wifi (it's free so it's not really stealing) and plan our trip to Prague. Plus, if you sit in a theatre bar, it's empty while the performances are on so you can have the place pretty much to yourself! I used mainly project life cards and a few odds and ends to put this together, and added a hand-drawn title.

We were planning in October when the nights were starting to close in earlier, so a chalkboard background made a nice night sky. Plus these chalkboard papers have been everywhere and I'd been itching to try one (although I can't seem to find many blank ones which is what I would prefer).

I love how wonderful the white pen looks on the black background - it really leaps off the page and enabled me to make a design feature of the journalling. The main body of the page is made up of layers of PL cards, scraps of punched dictionary paper and bits of tags and ribbon. With a little peg to clip it all together of course. The writing gives the appearance of another layer. Most of the layout is constructed on a sheet of 12x12 clear acetate - the photos, papers, embellishments and stars etc are not stuck to the background at all. However, the sheet of acetate simply lifts off if you want to clearly read the full story underneath.

I thought the string of stars (tutorial here) made a nice touch to a night-time page. I simply draped the garland across my page and then added a little dot of glue behind every other star or so; I didn't need to stick them all in place.The thread in between each star completes the impression of a smooth curve of stars trailing across the page. It's simple, but I think it looks detailed and delicate.

8 comments:

Kirsty, this is such a lovely page! The little star garland is so cute, and I agree that chalkboard paper is the best. I got some plain sheets of it in the Simple Stories December Documented collection :D Now I just need to get a white pen that will write properly on it! Hope you're having a fantastic Christmas xxx

This is just awesome! I love the design of this card. It is great and explains the beauty of hand art. I am interested in drawing very much and I must try this card soon. Now I am looking for washington DC bus tours to enjoy the summer vacations but after this tour I must try this card. Please you tell me where I found this white pen that you have to use to draw the beautiful line on the card.